Greener and cleaner road for Kaleen from today

Released 14/02/2017

Printer and photocopier toner as well as normal scrap rubber from car tyres will be incorporated in bitumen and trialled today, Tuesday 14 February 2017, along a street in Kaleen to help lengthen the life of the road and improve ride comfort.

“Working with contractor Downer, Roads ACT will be trailing a product called Tonerseal along Onkaparinga Crescent in Kaleen,” Program Manager of Road Maintenance, Roads ACT, Peter Thompson said.

“As part of Roads ACT’s scheduled resurfacing program, we are proud to trial this product on the first road in the ACT, setting a new benchmark in sustainability and innovation. The solution will be sprayed onto the road pavement and covered with aggregate. It is blended in Sydney and transported to Canberra for spraying in liquid form.

“Tonerseal is a world-first toner and rubber modified spray seal binder that pioneers the use of waste items such as toner from printer cartridges, photo copier toner and crumb rubber from used car tyres that would typically be stockpiled or sent to land fill.

“A total of 1.4 kilometres of road will be applied with this product saving 990 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions. 8,960 recycled printer cartridges and 203 tyres will be incorporated in the road resealing mix during today’s work which would have otherwise gone to landfill.

“This tonerseal trial is another way we are working with Downer on sustainable solutions for the ACT road network. In February 2016, a stretch of road along Kelleway Avenue, Nicholls was trailed using recycled road pavement and printer toner as a warm mix asphalt (Tonerpave).

“This was applied in a different form to how today’s mix with crews laying a plant mixed material as asphalt. One year later, this road is performing well,” Mr Thompson concluded.

During today’s works, there will be changes to traffic arrangements on Onkaparinga Crescent between 9 am and 3 pm. These will include temporary lane closures and a reduced speed limit of 40 km/h. Barriers as well as warning and diversion signs will be erected to alert people of the closure.

The ACT Government thank the community for their patience during this work.

For more information on road closures, visit www.tccs.act.gov.au or call Access Canberra on 13 22 81.